Spiked! The Great British Needle-Spiking Panic: A Crime in Search of Criminals

In 2021, reports emerged across Britain of young women being stuck with hypodermic needles while clubbing with friends. Soon hundreds of similar incidents were reported across continental Europe. We trace syringe-spiking panics back to the United States prior to World War I, in Britain and India during the 1930s, and France in the 1960s. These reports have all the hallmarks of a social panic—an exaggerated threat that is stoked by the media, advocacy groups, law enforcement, and politicians. The early twentieth century scares coalesced around fears for women’s safety and reflected anxieties about migrants and a growing desire by women to exercise their freedoms. More recent scares serve a similar function by flagging the dangers faced by young women in public settings, and the need for vigilance.